The subject matter disclosed herein relates to characterizing combustion systems. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems which automatically characterize the relationship between inputs and outputs of a combustion system, such as a gas turbine.
Combustion systems, including those found in gas turbine assemblies, can generate mechanical energy by combusting a source of fuel, thereby creating mechanical power for driving a load component attached to the combustion system (e.g., by a rotatable shaft). To optimize the combustion system's performance, the relationship between different input variables and output variables of the combustion system can be “characterized.” As used herein, the terms “characterize” or “characterization” refer to defining the physical relationship between inputs to a combustion system, such as relative values of combusted air, bypass air, and fuel (which may be expressed in terms of mathematical ratios) and one or more types of outputs, such as emission levels or sounds produced from the combustion system. Characterization can produce a mathematical function or model which relates one or more inputs to one or more outputs. Given the differences between individual combustion systems and their intended applications, these devices are typically characterized on a per-unit basis. One risk associated with characterizing a combustion system is that some groups of inputs may cause the combustion system or parts thereof to fail or become inoperable. These events may occur when the output variable exceeds one or more boundary conditions related to safety causes of failure.